FEBRUARY
Chapter 13
“Okay birthday buddies,” Julia said, slapping her hands together. “Progress report time!”
The four women had met up at Rudolpho’s to do a check in with one another on the progress they’d made toward their birthday wishes. Amy took a sip of her Moscow Mule and hoped no one suspected how drastically her birthday wish had changed.
It wasn’t that finding her dream job had slipped in importance, but lately all of her concentration was focused on getting around those bases with Carlos. And so far, she was still one short.
“Well, Julia. You’re the one who’s supposed to be giving birth in seven months,” Alice said. “So you should start.”
Julia laughed. “I didn’t say I had to be having the kid by our next birthday. I just need the bun to be in the oven.”
“And? What’s the verdict on how the bun is going to get in the oven?” Maya asked.
“I am working with a sperm bank,” Julia said. “I’ve been looking through binders of men. So far I have a list of about two dozen.”
Amy nearly spit her drink out. “Two dozen?”
“Yeah,” Julia said casually. “I will narrow it down from there and do interviews with the final candidates.”
Maya whistled. “This is some serious shit.”
“This is my kid’s genes we’re talking about,” Julia argued. “And they are already stuck with half mine. I want the other half to be perfect.”
Julia was smart, successful, and beautiful. But she had some sort of eye problem. Amy wasn’t entirely sure what it was all about, but she knew that Julia was very self-conscious about it and worried about eventually losing her sight.
Julia turned to Alice, taking the focus off her and the hunt for the perfect sperm donor. “What about you? How’s the search for the groom going?”
Alice smiled slyly. “Actually, I have three potentials right now.”
“Three!” Maya exclaimed. “You’re seeing three guys at once?”
“Not seeing,” Alice clarified. “I have three candidates for marriage.” It did not escape Amy’s notice that she used the same language as Julia had when talking about her sperm donors.
It all seemed very unromantic to Amy, who had just recently discovered her own sense of lust and romance. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m not looking for someone to date,” Alice told them all, as if she were explaining basic math to a small child. “I am looking for a spouse. This isn’t about romance. It’s about compatibility.”
All three of her companions stared at her.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this covered,” Alice said before taking a healthy swig of her Long Island Iced Tea. “Let’s talk about you, Maya,” she suggested, placing her near empty glass down on the table between them.
“I scored a gallery show this summer.” Maya pulled three postcards with information about the show out of her purse and passed them around. “I’d like you all to come to the opening reception.”
“We’ll be there,” Julia reassured her.
“Totally,” Alice agreed.
“With bells on,” Amy said.
“So that leaves you, Amy,” Maya said. “How’s the search for the perfect career going?”
“Well, thanks to Julia, I am in that program. I’m working in the production department now. And as you know, Maya, it’s going well.” Amy winked at her co-worker. They’d seen more of each other since Amy was now walking through the factory floor nearly every day. “I start in compliance next month.”
“And you already did finance, right?” Alice asked.
“Yeah.”
“What was that like? Working with Carlos, the hottie who never smiles? That must have been interesting,” Alice said.
“I like Carlos. He’s a nice guy,” Julia interjected. “He’s just quiet.”
“I’d be quiet, too, if I had to work with my ex-wife,” Maya said.
“God. I know. I can’t believe that nice man was once married to the Dragon Lady.” Julia raised her glass as if toasting her observation.
The other women laughed. But Amy’s chest felt tight. This very thought had been weighing on her mind lately. She couldn’t imagine Carlos with Kimberly. The idea of him married to her, kissing her, having sex with her, was completely unfathomable, not to mention repulsive.
Amy had been well on her way to giving this man her virginity. And it wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but she’d been having unexplainable hang-ups about it. Carlos was completely patient and didn’t push at all. He hadn’t even asked her about the hold-up. Instead, he’d gladly reviewed all the basics with her over and over. Suddenly, her hesitation to go all the way seemed to have a name—Kimberly.
“Well, it sounds like we’re all making progress,” Amy said to distract her co-workers and herself from these errant thoughts. “To us.” She raised her glass and waited while the others joined her in a toast.
****
“What’s going on with you lately?” Everett asked.
Carlos looked over at his best friend as they slowed to do the cool off portion of their run. They were making their way around the indoor track at the health club Everett had purchased a company membership to. Keeping each other’s pace easily, they jogged around the oval that hung suspended over the rest of the gym.
Carlos decided to treat the question with ignorance. “What are you talking about?”
Everett was extremely intuitive. This line of ‘play dumb’ would get Carlos nowhere and he knew it.
“Well, for starters you’ve been leaving work on time, or nearly on time.”
“You complaining?” Carlos asked his boss.
“Please.” Everett knew what an asset Carlos was to him and that he would never shirk his responsibilities.
“What does leaving on time have to do with anything?” Carlos asked.
Everett ignored that and continued. “Also, you always either have a giant fucking smile on your face or a really fucking tense look on your face.”
Despite being named the Bay Area’s Entrepreneur of the year, being young and incredibly successful as a private business owner, and looking damn good in a suit, Everett had a terrible potty mouth.
“I don’t know.” Carlos shrugged.
“All right.” Everett stopped and grabbed Carlos by the upper arm. The two men were nearly matched in size, but Everett had the element of surprise. He pulled Carlos nearly off his feet and shoved him to the side of the track. “Let’s have it.”
“Have what?” At this point Carlos wasn’t even sure why he was still being evasive. It was pointless.
“It’s a woman isn’t it?”
Of course it was a woman. Why else would he be constantly riding the line between the intense high of being with an incredible woman and the hard tension of not knowing how it would turn out?
“Yeah, I’ve been seeing someone,” he admitted.
“Why the secrecy, C?”
“She works for you.”
“So? As long as she isn’t some nineteen-year old intern or you didn’t promise her a promotion in exchange for a little somethin’ somethin’ you know I don’t care.”
“I know but...” Carlos ran his hand through his hair. “It’s really new. I mean we’re still working things out. And I’d just rather keep it between her and me right now.”
“Fuck, Carlos! Please. Please tell me you haven’t gotten back together with the Wicked Witch from West of the Bay.”
Normally he would have laughed at Everett’s long-time nickname for his ex. But not when it implicated him in this. “Kim? No. No. Hell no!”
Everett let out his breath. “Thank God. Okay. So, it’s just someone you want to take it slow with?”
“Yes.” Carlos was relieved his friend seemed to understand.
“Okay. I’ll make a deal with you. If you are still with this girl six weeks from now, you bring her to my birthday party. In the meantime, I’ll leave you alone about it. I won’t ask. I won’t try to figure it out. And I won’t imply shit in front of other people.”
Six weeks. He hoped to hell he was still with Amy, and surely they would want to go public by then.
“Deal.”
“Cool. Let’s get showered and head to work.” Everett patted him on the back and they both headed toward the locker room.
Carlos had just barely walked inside when he stopped. “Hey, Ev. I forgot my water bottle. I’m gonna grab it.”
“Kay. See you later.” Everett headed toward the showers.
Carlos made his way back into the main part of the club. He rounded a corner and saw something spectacular.
****
Amy put away her mat and rushed out into the blissfully cool air-conditioned main portion of the club. Hot Yoga always seemed like a good idea. But by the end of it Amy felt like a limp, sweaty, Gumby doll.
She’d gone to the health club early that morning in hopes of calming her body and mind, both of which seemed to be constantly buzzing with all things Carlos. She hadn’t seen him last night, since she was out with the girls, but it was Friday now and she expected to spend some quality time with him over the weekend.
She was imaging what she might want to do when she got her hands on him. In fact, she was thinking about it so hard she managed to hallucinate him. He was walking toward her, a pair of workout shorts and a light gray T-shirt clinging to his sweat-soaked body. His hair was in sexy disarray and he wore a massive grin on his face as his chocolate eyes gazed at her.
She came to an abrupt stop near a door that read “Exit” and took in the fact that he actually was right there in front of her.
“Hi.” He came to a stop just inches away.
“Um…hi.”
“Came to work out?”
“Um…yeah. Yoga. You?”
“I meet up with Everett three times a week here.” He said it in a strange tone, because she knew this already. He’d even left her in bed a few times to go work out and then came back before driving them both to E.E.R.
They’d figured out the riding together thing in the last few weeks. When Amy spent the night, he dropped her off a block away from the office. She used that short walk to clear her mind of Carlos Diaz so she could function at her job. That was not happening right now.
He moved a hair closer to her. “Did you have fun with the girls last night?”
“Yeah. Definitely.”
Because of that appointment and some damn meeting Carlos had attended the night before, it had been forty-eight hours since she’d touched him. Her hand twitched while his eyes roamed up and down the leggings and tank top she wore.
As the tense, sexually-laden silence settled between them, his eyes peeled away from her and swiveled around the room. Then he grabbed her arm and pulled her through the door behind them.
The stairwell—gray, drab, and harshly lit—was thankfully empty, and that was all that mattered. Pressing her back against the wall, Carlos moved in close.
“I’m super sweaty and gross,” she said weakly.
“You’re gorgeous,” he growled before giving her a deep kiss. He pulled his head back but kept his body fused to hers. “Tell me you’re coming to my place after work tonight.”
“I am. And…um…I have tickets for the symphony for tomorrow night. So we could hopefully go see YaYa perform.”
“I’d love to. If you’ll come with me to a swim meet Ellie and Phoebe are competing in that afternoon.”
“I’d love to.”
He grinned and gave her a quick kiss before ducking out of the stairwell. Amy stayed there for a few minutes, catching her breath. Eventually, some massive guy with tattoo sleeves and a sour look on this face interrupted the Carlos-spell and she headed to the locker room to change and go to work.
****
Carlos had made spaghetti for dinner. And after they’d filled up, he and Amy ended up on the couch, two glasses of wine perched on the coffee table in front of them and Amy’s bare feet resting in Carlos’ lap. Amy tried not to completely drift off as Carlos kneaded her feet in his talented hands. After all, they had a conversation to get through.
“I have something I want to talk to you about,” she told him.
“Did you tell the birthday girls about us?”
“What? No…Why? Did you tell Everett?”
“Not exactly.” His face definitely reflected at least a hint of guilt. “He kind of guessed that something is up with me. He asked if there is a woman in my life and I told the truth. I told him she’s at the company but I didn’t want to say who it is. He was cool with me not telling him.”
“He was?” Everett and Carlos were very close. She was shocked he hadn’t insisted on knowing. She would have.
“Yes, but there’s a catch. I kind of agreed to bring to you to his birthday party in late April.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You know I love a deadline,” she said slyly.
“You do,” he agreed. “Now what did you want to talk about?”
“Um…I don’t want you to get mad.”
“Why would I get mad?”
“It’s about Kimberly.”
He leaned toward her. “Amy, I may not enjoy talking about my ex-wife. But I get it. If you had an ex-husband, I would want to talk about him.”
“But I don’t have an ex-anything.”
He grinned. “And don’t think I don’t really like that.”
“You do? I thought maybe my…inexperience would turn you off.”
“No way. I love that I’m the only one.”
Amy bit her lip, suddenly feeling like a student in a conversations with the professor.
“What do you want to know?” he encouraged.
Amy took a deep breath. If she didn’t get this off her chest she might never be able to get to the next level with Carlos. “Well. First of all, I have a really hard time picturing you two together.”
“Me, too.”
“But you were together.”
“Things were different then.”
“She was different?” Amy asked.
He gave a morose chuckle. “No. She hasn’t ever changed. I was different. I was young and very successful.” Amy remembered that people said Carlos had the ‘Midas touch’ when it came to business. “In my work life, I made careful decisions, good decisions. And I made them with absolute confidence. But my personal life was a mess. I was never good with women.”
“I find that very hard to believe.”
He smiled at her. “Well it’s true. All these men I worked with had trophy wives, and the women had trophy husbands. They were all super alpha in their relationships. But I didn’t have a clue what to do with a trophy anybody. And I was suffering through all these social events. Kim knew exactly what to do, how to act, and she could tell me exactly what I needed to do and how I needed to act. At that time in my life, it was perfect.”
Carlos closed the distance between them further and ran his hand up her lower leg to her knee. “But I changed. I found myself, I guess. I figured out what I wanted in my professional life and not long after that, I figured out what I wanted in my personal life. And Kim didn’t fit. I divorced her and she’s never forgiven me for it.”
“This is going to sound awful but I keep thinking about you and her…I mean, she probably wasn’t your only…”
“No. She wasn’t. There were a few women before her,” he said honestly, holding Amy’s gaze.
“But she’s the only one I know?”
He nodded.
“Sometimes I can’t help but think that she and you…did the same things we do…” Amy bit her lip.
Carlos leaned all the way in and pulled that lip out from between her teeth with his own. “What we do is different because it feels different.” He shifted so she sunk further into the couch and he hovered above her. His lips were right beside hers as he whispered to her. “I can’t change the past and make it so I was never with her. And I wouldn’t. Because that experience shaped who I am.” His hand ran down her stomach to the top of her thigh. “And I think you like who I am today.”
Amy moaned. “Yes. I do.”
“And I swear to you, the very last thing I am ever thinking about when I’m with you is her. It would be like you thinking about your Uncle Clint when you’re with me.”
That snapped Amy out of her lust-induced haze. Her eyes grew wide. “Gross!”
“Exactly. Now cleanse your mind and kiss me.”
Once his lips hit hers it was easy to leave all thoughts of Kimberly, and Uncle Clint for that matter, far behind.